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Campaign Nonviolence Conference Call Feb. 2016

Posted by Ryan Hall

02.24.16

On February 23, 2016 we held our first Campaign Nonviolence Conference Call of 2016. On the call we welcomed author and activist David Hartsough as our guest speaker to talk about his life, his book, Waging Peace, the Nonviolent Peaceforce, and the tangible actions everyone can take to help build Campaign Nonviolence for a culture of peace and nonviolence. Below you will find the notes and audio from this call.

Think of what a world we could build if the power unleashed in war were applied to constructive tasks. – Albert Einstein

Roll Call – Ryan Hall read the list of those on the call. 110 people registered to attend.

CNV in 2016 – Rivera Sun

Rivera shared some brief history on Pace e Bene and Campaign Nonviolence. She encouraged those not familiar with Pace e Bene or CNV to visit us online at Paceebene.org.

2016 Week of Actions Sept 18-25th – Ken Butigan

Ken opened with a quote from Erica Chenoweth. “Campaign Nonviolence is a truly ambitious movement to increase resources, education, trainings, and actions related to peace and nonviolence I was lucky enough to speak at Campaign Nonviolence’s 2015 National Conference in Santa Fe, and I was impressed with their organization and achievements so far. In a world where many people clamor for ‘more and better violence,’ it brings me hope to see people learning, teaching, and promoting nonviolence on a daily basis. By supporting a thousand nonviolence trainings, engaging in hundreds of actions, and providing resources and support to nonviolence advocates and activists, Campaign Nonviolence is committed to building a movement of movements dedicated to a just peace worldwide starting right here in the US.”

Ken asked everyone if they are ready to start building this new culture of peace and nonviolence. He said that he cannot do it alone, but needs all of us to say together that violence is over.

Ken said that during the week of actions this year Sept 18-25 we hope to see at least 500 actions in the US and around the world. Last year in 2015 we had 370 actions so reaching 500 is possible.

Ken said that he recently got back from Uganda where he shared the news about CNV and people were very excited and ready to get involved.

Ken said that nonviolence is risky and involves our hearts being active. He encouraged everyone to take some kind of nonviolence training this year and start preparing for the September 2016 Actions.

Ryan shared about CNV’s latest project called the 1000 Nonviolence Trainings Project. Nonviolence education is key to long-term change by spreading the tools of nonviolent transformation and by training both advocates for change and the larger society. Working with training organizations—and long-time nonviolence trainers—we will identify and organize at least 1,000 trainings and workshops for nonviolent change over the next year. We call on every local group to host, organize or lead a nonviolence training in 2016. Trainers and those looking for trainings will be able to find information at NonviolenceTrainingHub.org. Pace e Bene and CNV also offers training and workshops in nonviolence. Those interested can contact us at info@paceebene.org.

Ryan mentioned that we will be holding a nonviolence web class with John Dear starting in April called Living Nonviolence. The class will follow the outline of John’s recent book, The Nonviolent Life. John will be offering short web videos once a week and participants will have the opportunity to share their thoughts and reflections online with each other. Ryan said that this is all about an effort to increase nonviolence education. Learn more about this class here. Register soon since the early bird discount ends March 1st.

Rivera said that David has been a long-time friend of Pace e Bene and supporter of peace and justice issues. She said he has a deep heart that he carries with him in everything. David is the executive director of PeaceWorkers, co-founder of the Nonviolent Peaceforce, he is a Quaker and member of the San Francisco Friends. David has been working on nonviolent social change since he met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1956. He’s been in just about every nonviolent movement you can think of! David’s got a new book called Waging Peace that he’ll be sharing his thoughts on.

David Hartsough’s talk

David started by saying that this movement is more important than ever. We must speak out if one’s faith is to have any meaning. We need sustained nonviolent actions and campaigns in order to create fundamental change. He said that we can make change!

His first story was from 1960 in Virginia during the sit-ins. He attended Howard University and helped challenge segregation with his fellow black students. He spoke about his time at the lunch counter where people spat on them, punched them, called them names and threatened to kill him.

His second story was during Christmas of 1971 during the Vietnam War. The US was bombing Hanoi so him and his community decided they had to do something to put their bodies between the people of Vietnam and the bombs. They decided to get in canoes in New Jersey to stop the ships traveling to Vietnam.

David’s third story was during the Central American wars. He was in the SF Bay area where they found ships and trains that were delivering bombs to Central America. They decided to find ways of stopping those shipments. David was with Brian Wilson who laid on the railroad tracks to prevent the trains from moving. The train ran over Brian and cut off his legs, but they continued their ongoing blockade there for over two years.

His fourth story was in Berlin. He recalls hearing from activists who tried to tear down the wall and how soldiers reacted.

David offered a few suggestions about getting involved including taking a nonviolence training, doing study groups with Engage, getting involved with War Tax Resistance.

David also spoke about the Nonviolent Peaceforce which was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize recently. David is also one of the founders of World Beyond War that he encouraged people to get involved with. He encouraged people to also look at the Moral Monday’s

Q & A

Rachel in North Carolina asked about facilitators to get involved with the 1000 Trainings Project in NC. Ryan suggested that they chat after the call to work on scheduling a training.

Peter B. in Oregon followed up on this regarding the 1000 Trainings project. He said that this project has many different elements from nonviolent social change but also nonviolent communication. He also said there are many academic programs in universities that we are working on listing as well.

Rivera S. asked David Hartsough about the importance of nonviolence training and whether his various nonviolent actions would have had the same impact if he hadn’t done nonviolent training. David said role-playing and preparation were very important for him and his friends. He said it was also important to have affinity groups that are working together which comes out of trainings. He said trainings also help with the history of nonviolence trainings and what worked and what didn’t. He encouraged everyone to get training.

Luz O. in New York asked David about the role of communism and the fall of the Soviet Union. David said that as it was practiced in Eastern Europe it was dictatorial. David said that the important thing was that in most of these countries where people used nonviolence to overcome the oppression it worked. He said that nonviolence is more effective at challenging dictatorships or governments that don’t listen to the people and reminded people about Erica Chenoweth’s work in this area.

Jerry M. in Texas said that the GOP will be having their debate in Houston and many activists will be protesting outside the venue to challenge the hate speech happening during this campaign. Jerry also said that he started a Bible study to study the nonviolence teachings of Jesus. He’s also organizing a trip with other churches to Huntsville, TX where many executions happen to challenge the death penalty.

Closing Comments

Rivera encouraged those planning a nonviolent action in September to sign up here.

Date and Time of Next Meeting: Tuesday, March 29th, 8pm ET/5pm PT. Guest Speaker: Robin Wildman from Broad Rock Elementary School on K-12 Nonviolence Education. Rivera encouraged folks to share the news about this call with all their friends who are teachers to join this next call as we find ways of bringing nonviolence into our schools. REGISTER HERE for the March 29th call!

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